


I'm Gonna Need a Bigger Shoe

by shipitbetterthanfedex



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff, Spiders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-07-29 16:21:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7691365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shipitbetterthanfedex/pseuds/shipitbetterthanfedex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Please help me kill the spider in my apartment" au<br/>Or, Annabeth is alone in her dorm and needs someone (aka an incredibly hot swimmer she's never met) to act as her knight in shining armour</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm Gonna Need a Bigger Shoe

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my first works that I've actually posted anywhere, and my first PJO one, so feedback wouls be appreciated.  
> It's been a while since I read the actual books and not just fics, so if they seem OOC please tell me.  
> Enjoy!

Annabeth had always prided herself on being a logical, clear-headed person.

She made decisions based on fact, and didn’t let stress and anxiety stop her from being successful. Ever since she was little, she was able to shut out her fears and focus on what she needed to do. There was only one fear she’d never been able to think herself away from.

People could probably hear her scream from across campus. She wasn’t generally one to react emotionally instead of rationally, but this was an exception.

She inched her way out of the bathroom, keeping her eyes locked on the source of her fears in case it moved. The second she was in the main living space she turned around and raced to the hallway, slamming the door shut behind her and leaning on it.

This was not good. Both of her roommates, Reyna and Piper, were in class right now and wouldn’t be back for hours. None of her other friends went to this school, and they were too far away for her to give them an emergency call. She was going to—

“Are you alright?”

Annabeth, already nervous and stressed, jumped when she heard the voice. Normally it was hard to sneak up on her, but right now was not the best time.

There was a boy about her age—a freshman—standing there with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, looking incredibly awkward and out of place. She guessed he wasn’t the type of guy who usually walked up to random girls in the hallway, but there was concern in his eyes and she figured he _was_ the type of guy who couldn’t ignore someone he thought needed help.

Annabeth felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her as she realized that’s what she looked like—some damsel in distress who needed a knight in shining armour. That was exactly the type of person she tried to avoid being. She hated asking for help no matter what she was doing.

“I—I’m fine,” she told him, the shakiness in her voice betraying her true state of mind.

He looked at her, unsure, and she noticed just how green his eyes were, peeking out from under his mess of black hair and shining with worry. _Great_ , she thought, _I am literally the girl who falls for Prince Charming._

“Are you sure?” He asked, his eyebrows drawn together in an adorable, puppy-dog way. Gods, this was not going to end well.

She sighed, knowing he wouldn’t leave unless he was positive she was okay. And the only way to ensure that was to fix her problem. Still, she hesitated. “You’re going to laugh.”

The boy shook his head, staring at her earnestly. “I swear I won’t. Pinky promise.”

He held out his finger and Annabeth smiled a little as she hooked her own around it. It was such a childish gesture, it was somehow comforting.

She took a deep breath. “There’s a spider in my dorm.”

She could see his shoulders shake as he tried not to laugh, despite his promise, though she didn’t blame him. It was pretty pathetic, being scared so badly by a spider, but she’d had some bad experiences with the creatures.

“How can I help?”

Annabeth looked up at him, surprised by his sudden composure. There was still a trace of amusement in his eyes, but it was overpowered by his obvious determination to help her. She gave him a small smile.

“You could always kill it.”

He grinned at her lopsidedly, and it damn near knocked the wind out of her. If she thought he was handsome before, now he was downright gorgeous. “You’ll have to let me into your dorm first.”

“Oh!” Annabeth exclaimed, quickly moving away from the door so he could open it. It was crazy how scatter-brained she was acting, but she supposed that was what irrational fears did.

The boy walked in, glancing around the room she shared with Piper and Reyna. Piper’s bed was a bit of a mess, scattered with skating magazines and clothes. Her own and Reyna’s were more organized, with neat stacks of textbooks on their dressers. Reyna’s, however, had no decorations save for a purple curtain in the place of wallpaper, whereas Annabeth had a wall of pictures hanging up. They were of her family and friends from summer camp, mostly. She didn’t make many close friends in high school since she was automatically written off as a stuck-up teacher’s pet.

Annabeth noticed the boy looking curiously at these pictures, and explained how she loved taking pictures of people she cared about. It was her way of never losing them, no matter what happened.

“That’s really sweet,” the boy said, turning to look at Annabeth, who glanced at her feet.

“Not as sweet as helping some pathetic stranger kill a spider in her dorm room.”

The boy’s ears turned pink and he straightened up from where he had been looking at the pictures. “Right. Well. Um, we should probably get to it.”

“It’s in the bathroom.”

“Do you have a shoe?”

She handed him one of Piper’s many shoes laying haphazardly near the door. What? She had plenty more, she wouldn’t mind.

He turned towards the door leading to said room, already knowing the layout of the dorm since it was exactly the same as every other freshman room on campus.

“Gods above,” he said in a flat voice as he entered the room with her close on his heels, trying to look around him without venturing out from behind the protection his body provided. “That is one gigantic spider.”

Annabeth felt herself laughing a bit at his reaction, despite her own fear. Having another person in the room definitely made her feel safer.

“I’m gonna need a bigger shoe.”

That did it for Annabeth, and she doubled over with laughter at the absurdity of it all. A second later the boy joined her, and soon the two of them had tears in their eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Annabeth said, wiping her eyes. “I just—it’s too much. I haven’t been sleeping much lately because of assignments, and then all this, and—I’m just so stressed—”

There was the boy’s concerned look again. Somehow it looked even sweeter this time. “Maybe you should take it easy on the studying. Your personal wellbeing is more important than your grades.”

Annabeth sighed. “The logical part of me knows that, but I can’t just—not finish things, you know?”

“Sounds like—”

She would never know what it sounded like, since right then the spider started moving towards them and Annabeth’s shriek cut off whatever the boy was about to say. Spurred into action by the sudden sound, he yanked off his own shoe and threw it at the spider, hitting it in one try.

 Annabeth stared in surprise. “Nice arm.”

“Little league,” the boy explained, somewhat breathlessly. It was most likely more from adrenaline caused by her scream than exertion. Judging by the boy’s frame, his shoulders were well muscled enough that he would have barely even felt the throw. Annabeth felt herself blush.

“Th—”

“I—”

They turned to face each other at the same time, and Annabeth noticed just how close they were. It was hard to keep your distance from someone and look over their shoulder at the same time. Although, Annabeth supposed, she hadn’t exactly been looking over his shoulder. She could tell at this proximity that he was at least half a foot taller than her.

He grinned at her again, making her heart beat a little harder. She had to get a hold of herself. “You go first.”

Annabeth took a deep breath and smiled. “Thanks for helping me,” she said to the strings on his swim team hoodie—so he was a swimmer, that explained the shoulders—not quite able to meet his eyes from embarrassment. “I know it’s kind of pathetic, not being able to even kill a spider—”

“Nonsense,” he interrupted her. “Irrational fears are nothing to laugh at. Plenty of people are scared of spiders.”

“I guess so,” Annabeth murmured quietly, still not looking up. “Anyway, what were you going to say?”

“I, um…” Her eyes followed his hand up to the back of his neck, which he scratched awkwardly. “I was wondering if I could see you again?”

That made her eyes snap to his, which looked incredibly nervous. “What? Seriously?”

A blush flooded his cheeks and Annabeth allowed herself to notice how cute it made him look. “You don’t have to—never mind, forget I said anything—”

“No!” Annabeth exclaimed, apparently a little too loudly, since he visibly winced. “Sorry, I just—I would like that. A lot. And I swear I’m not normally like this, I’m usually more put together and logical and I don’t ramble like this either—”

“It’s okay, I get it, happens all the time—”

“So, Saturday?”

“Saturday sounds great.”

They stared at each other for a few beats, both wide-eyed and flustered. Everything in the last ten seconds had happened so fast, and they were both speaking so rapidly, and it was all a mess.

She held out her hand. “I’m Annabeth, by the way.”

The boy shook her hand with a smile. “Percy. Percy Jackson.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments (and the other stuff) are much appreciated!


End file.
